Build Home Gardens

Chukumuk is one of the most vulnerable communities in Guatemala. Its entire population is comprised of men, women and children who were relocated from Panabaj after their village was destroyed during hurricane Stan in 2005.

Despite huge investment from the Spanish government on schools, roads and housing, the community have little to no source of income. They are isolated from local markets and due to the poor soil quality in the region, have no areas in which to carry out the subsistance agriculture on which many of them used to depend.

OBJECTIVEThe goal of this trip is to design and build a garden in a relocated the community, in a way that can be carried on and replicated by the community members themselves in the years to come.

10 THINGS YOU WILL LEARN

What the Guatemalan civil war was like, as told by a woman who lived through it.

What Mayan cosmology is all about.

What your personal nawal is, and what it means.

How permaculture is practiced, and how it can be relevant to your own life

What traditional Guatemalan food tastes like.

How foreign aid can sometimes have disastrous effects.

How a garden can be built with very little resources.

How permaculture principles can help with soil conservation, land and water management.

How a local community can grow their own food and reach food sovereignty.

The dazzling colours and textures of a Guatemalan village on Lake Atitlan.